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When to fuss about a walk away split

Hi, first time bee hive-splitter, so maybe overly neurotic about this. But I did a walk away split on March 9th (25 days ago). By 3/16, there were already capped queen cells in the hive (fast!), by 3/24, at one of these queen cells was ripped open. Not wanting to disturb the hive much, I just left well enough alone until today. Opened hive, old queen cells are mostly gone, but couldn't find the queen -- maybe just too impatient. In any case, no sign of eggs or young brood, so there's clearly no laying queen in there anyway. When should I start fussing about this, either adding another frame of eggs from my other hive, or ordering a new queen? How long from split until I should be seeing eggs? Thanks!

Re: When to fuss about a walk away split

Originally Posted by jlsheehan

Hi, first time bee hive-splitter, so maybe overly neurotic about this. But I did a walk away split on March 9th (25 days ago). By 3/16, there were already capped queen cells in the hive (fast!), by 3/24, at one of these queen cells was ripped open. Not wanting to disturb the hive much, I just left well enough alone until today. Opened hive, old queen cells are mostly gone, but couldn't find the queen -- maybe just too impatient. In any case, no sign of eggs or young brood, so there's clearly no laying queen in there anyway. When should I start fussing about this, either adding another frame of eggs from my other hive, or ordering a new queen? How long from split until I should be seeing eggs? Thanks!

Late already. You need to get them a new frame of brood and eggs, or a laying queen. What happened was they drew out queen cells, but for whatever reason they didn't take, so they tore them down. if I don't have good capped queen cells in 14 days I have a problem....

Re: When to fuss about a walk away split

A walk away split if I understand does not matter where the queen is at so don't even look for the queen bee.
According to the queen rearing calendar you should see some eggs by next week on the 8th. But if this queen is lazy or not ready for a mating flight because she emerged later then you have to wait a bit longer. If you do not see the queen after she emerged then look for her. But it is hard to find her if you have too many bees in the hive. If she is in there then adding another frame of eggs will not help. They will not make more queens for this hive. They got one already. You can order a queen bee but if they are in there then they will kill each others until one survive. I'm worry though if one is injured while the other is dead. Either way, it is better for you to confirm that you have a queen inside to make the right decision.
If this queen emerge late then you have to wait another week to see. Also, if your area not have drones flying then she cannot get mated. That will delay some more of egg laying. I did a notch the same time you did. So far 1 out of 4 did not get mated because she hatched out one week later. By next week she should lay some eggs. But so far she still waiting inside her hive. And not want to do a mating flight. But she is 5 days ahead of herself anyways. So I will give her another week or 2 to see. Some keepers here said they waited almost 3 weeks after they emerged
to see some eggs. If you can confirmed that she is in there then give her some more time. Hopefully, my last queen will get mated as well.

Re: When to fuss about a walk away split

I have had very good success with walk-away splits, but have also learned that the bees will do things on their own schedule and not necessarily follow the book (maybe they are poor readers, maybe they are just rebellious). It is ok to add a frame or two of brood from another hive at any time to supplement numbers, if still no brood after 30 days, time to buy a queen.

Re: When to fuss about a walk away split

well, judging by my other hive, there are drones aplenty. But sounds like I should keep calm for a little while longer and keep my eye out for eggs/larvae. Thanks all of you!

Well, I did a cutout on a colony that I didn't find the queen on the same day (March 9). There was only a little bit of brood, but when I checked it on March 18 there were sealed queen cells. I am going in this Saturday to see if I can see eggs, brood, or a mated queen.

I think the absolute latest they could have started a queen would have been on March 15 (March 9 + 3 days as egg + 3 day as larva). 10 more days for the queen larva to mature puts her emerging at the latest around March 25. It takes a week or so for the queen to harden off, make her mating flights, and start laying. Her mating flights also are dependent on weather which could delay her a few days.

Re: When to fuss about a walk away split

If you have it available there is NO harm in putting a frame of eggs in there. If they have or soon to have a laying queen you have just given them a boost, if the original queen didn't take you have given them the resources to make a queen with. WIN WIN

Re: When to fuss about a walk away split

Confession; When I look for a queen and do not find one it usually just means I did not find her, it does not mean there is not one. Here she may well have been flying. A frame of brood would prove or disprove a queen.

Re: When to fuss about a walk away split

Yes, well, this was my theory as well -- being a newbie, I'm often hard pressed to find the queen, and there are a fair number of bees in this split. So I decided just to look for brood... If I do add a new frame of eggs/brood to this hive, by the way, do I need to knock the other hive's nurse bees off of it? or can I just drop the whole frame, bees and brood, into my baby hive? Thanks again for patient advice.